Improvement of Project Management Office Performance: An Empirical Investigation of Effective Factors in Iranian Construction Industry

Project management office (PMO) is a new emerging concept in Iranian construction industry. Executives expect this organizational unit to add value to the business, and meet the demands of stakeholders by performing specialized tasks ranging from providing project management support to portfolio management. In this regard, PMO managers have long faced the question of how to improve the performance of project management office. Regarding the lack of research on this subject, current study focuses on identifying and analyzing the factors positively affecting the project management office performance in Iranian construction industry. The theoretical basis is extracted from the literature, and a field research is conducted for examining factors in Iranian construction industry. The parametric t-test is used to identify key factors, and the interpretive structural modeling is applied to provide an overview on their interrelationships. The final conceptual model indicates 9 factors in 6 levels grouped in 3 category (dependent, linkage and driver variables). Furthermore, the findings provide Iranian construction companies with common understanding, and practical guidelines to steer their project management offices toward creating higher value.